Love Lessons: Braced Against the Pain
by clagjanet
Summary: A fic in response to the SMK Fanfic FB challenge to write a story 1K words or less, single character, plot must be about a person in conflict with an object. June 2016 update: I have decided to group some of my stories together under a theme of Love Lessons, which are family-centred tales as Lee finds out what "normal" life can be like. No Lee here, but still family love.


Disclaimer: none of these characters belong to me; they belong to Shoot the Moon Enterprises and Warner Bros to whom I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to take them out for a spin and bit of light humour.

 **Braced against the pain**

He woke up the next morning feeling like he'd gone ten rounds with the school bully. It felt like all of his teeth had been pulled out except by probing around with his tongue, he could tell they were all still there. His mouth was incredibly dry which somehow made it worse when he ran his tongue along the outside of his teeth feeling out all the tiny fresh scrapes and cuts in the inside of his lips and cheeks.

He turned his head on the pillow and felt a wave of nausea come over him. He knew it was partially from hunger. He hadn't been able to eat much the night before, but the way his whole head felt swollen and achy now, he still didn't want to eat. The pain in his jaw was indescribable; he couldn't imagine trying to chew anything. It seemed like every tooth in his mouth had its own special exposed nerve and his whole body tensed against the pain. He ran his hand across his cheek and wondered idly if he had visible bruises from the day before.

He realized from the light coming through the blinds that it was way past the usual time he got up. He wondered how late it was and why no one had woken him. Had he been in such rough shape that he'd slept through everyone else getting up and getting on with their day? He knew he hadn't slept well but he found that hard to believe. He groaned at the thought of having to get up out of the bed and opened his eyes enough to look at the clock on the bedside table. Squinting through the dim light, he could see it was almost noon. His gaze shifted slightly to the left and he realized there was a glass of water with a note leaning against it. He got up on one elbow and reached for it.

" _Sweetheart, I hope you're feeling better this morning. I know you had a really rough night. The tablets will help with the pain and drink as much water as you can with them. I went out and got you a special breakfast. It's in the fridge"_ and it was signed with a tiny heart and a little series of X's.

His stomach rolled again at the thought of breakfast, no matter how special but he dragged himself upright enough to take the tablets and drink the whole glass of water. Twenty minutes later when the pain relievers had begun to make a slight indent into the misery he was feeling, he decided to head downstairs to see what this "special breakfast" might consist of. If nothing else, he had the house to himself until everyone else came back from Philip's baseball game so he could watch some tv without interruption.

Wrapping his comforter around him, he dragged his weary aching body down the stairs, and into the kitchen to the fridge. Opening the door, he couldn't see anything at first and then realized that right in the middle of the top shelf was a Marvellous Marvin's cup with a note stuck to it that read "Special Breakfast. Philip, do not even think of touching this." He laughed and pulled the cup out. Putting the straw in his mouth, he sucked tentatively. He winced from the initial pain of his cheeks contracting against the cuts inside his cheeks but then the sudden cold sweetness of a choco-blocko shake hit him.

"Oh wow, that is so good" he thought. He couldn't believe how perfect a chocolate milkshake tasted for breakfast. Soft, smooth, no chewing involved and the freezing cold of the shake numbed all the remaining pain in his mouth.

Jamie collapsed onto the sofa and continued to suck at the straw. In between mouthfuls of milkshake, he continued to run his tongue along the new countours of his mouth.

"Robbie Green was right" he thought to himself. "Getting braces really, really sucks."


End file.
